Polly and Her Pals — 1922-06-02

Cliff Sterrett launched *Polly and Her Pals* in 1912, and by 1922 it had become one of the most graphically inventive strips in syndication. This daily follows a familiar four-panel rhythm: Paw brags that Polly is as capable as any girl her age; a neighbor challenges him with the example of the domestic Delicia, who trims her own hats and sews her own clothes; Paw retorts that Polly doesn't even know what a needle is for; Polly herself appears, dancing to phonograph records — her rejoinder delivered without a word. Sterrett's fluid brushwork, expressive figure-drawing, and confident panel-to-panel pacing exemplify the newspaper daily strip as a fully realized narrative form, the direct ancestor of the comic book page.